The Hollins House

We booked Hollins House after it hit almost all of our "would-like-to-haves" and a very small amount of things they couldn't accommodate. Overall, the team at Hollins was very easy to work with through the entire process, and helped us ensure that the planning heading up to our wedding day went smoothly. We had several walk throughs, meetings around planning the event flow, special requests, and a food tasting that felt much more like a romantic date than anything else. Leading up to the event, we were quite pleased overall with Hollins. The day of was a different story. They absolutely knocked it out of the park. The staff was extremely friendly and professional throughout the entire event, the food day of was surprisingly more tasty than the initial tasting, the execution on our vision for decor and stylization was flawless, the staff ensured our events ran on time and all our guests were happy, quite literally everything went perfectly. We were blown away by how smooth it went, due largely to the staff at Hollins. There were only two minor downsides to keep in mind, which were not a major issue for us but worth noting. They require a buffet if you have over 80 guests, and there is no option for an open bar (its all based on consumption). That being said, we had dozens of compliments on how smooth the buffet flowed and how tasty the dinner was; especially our vegan guests who had options as well. And the estimates for what we would expect to pay for drinks through the evening was within 4%. If you want a high quality, photogenic, fun and friendly venue that has indoor and outdoor options, with ocean views - its worth a visit for sure!

We had our wedding at the Hollins House on May 18 of 2024 and it was nothing short of excellent. Giselle, Bella, and all of the staff were so professional and beyond helpful not only leading up to the day, but on the rehearsal and of course, the day of. We got a million compliments on the food as well from all of our guests; they said it was the best wedding food they have ever had! The entire staff made sure everything was perfect and the day moved along so smoothly. They made our entire experience one to never forget! We recommend the Hollins House to anyone wishing to get married or have an event in the beautiful Santa Cruz.

The staff at the Hollins House made every step of the process fun and exciting. My wife and I had an incredible experience that exceeded any and all of our expectations. The venue speaks for itself, but the food, service, and atmosphere match it step for step. If you’re looking the absolute most picturesque and perfect wedding you could ever imagine, I would highly recommend considering the Hollins House.

I cannot stress enough, just how amazing the Hollins House was to work with. From the moment we booked our first tour to the moment our wedding ended, the Hollins House took incredible care of us. I had about 9 months to plan my wedding and found the Hollins House highly recommended on The Knot and on Yelp. Being able to easily book a tour online was already a win and then I got a follow up email from Giselle with more info to help prep us for our tour and that immediately impressed me too. Our first tour was amazing! Giselle walked us through everything, answering our many questions and provided us a quote at the end of our tour. We absolutely fell in love with the scenic views and the romantic landscape. Just to help solidify our gut feelings, we attempted to tour 2 other venues but they never responded back to us, which just reaffirmed that Hollins was the perfect place for our wedding. Once I reached out to Giselle and confirmed that we'd like to move forward, she diligently went to work providing me next steps, a vendor list and tentative budget breakdown. I cannot express how VALUABLE their vendor list was! I booked 3 out of 4 of my vendors from their list (Cake, Flowers & DJ) and they all did amazing. I'm a huge review seeker and had high expectations when it came to the communication turn around time with my vendors and am so thrilled with how well each vendor responded throughout the wedding planning process. I also have to point out something that I hadn't though of until booking vendors, but it's pretty helpful when your vendors have worked at the venue before and know the general layout of the space as well as timing for drop off/clean up on day of. So being able to reference these certified vendors instead of working from scratch with google searches saved me so much time and stress! I was diligent on my vendor bookings that I had 3 of the vendors booked within the first 2 months of planning my wedding and that wouldn't have been possible without the Hollin's vendor list. Now onto Giselle & Bella. I don't even know where to begin describing just how absolutely amazing each of these coordinators were to work with. I'm desperate to find some other event to plan at Hollins just so I have an excuse to work with them again. Being a bride and having to oversee so many details at once is insane already, so when you have venue coordinators who genuinely care and are willing to answer your many emails, entertain multiple visits and pivot for last minute requests, it is truly something invaluable. I want to give such a huge shout to them both because without them, I'm confident that my wedding day wouldn't have been nearly as magical. Hollins was already offering such beauty in every corner, but Giselle & Bella are undoubtedly the people that make Hollins the perfect place to get married. When I got engaged, I honestly didn't really know what I was looking for in a venue but now being on the other side of getting married, I cannot imagine having had my wedding day at any other place. When you can partner with a venue who have incredible coordinators that go to such lengths in order to ensure things go perfectly, I don't know how a bride could ask for any more!...Except maybe a time machine so I can go back and relive the perfect day!